A/N: So this is the last chapter - but I split it into 2 parts because it turned out to be SO long. Here's the first part: enjoy!

2014 (Present Day)

"Mary, APD's on line 2 for you."

"Shit."

Delia grinned. "Do you want me to take it?"

Mary waved the perky woman away. "No, I'll take it – just tell me, is it her?"

"You know it."

Mary closed her eyes and counted to ten. She knew she couldn't afford to lose it – not while Marshall was out of town and she was in charge – he had made her swear on Norah's life that she would play nice. She glared at the picture on his desk – the candid of him with Norah on his shoulders; he was looking up at her adoringly and her daughter was laughing hysterically.

She wagged a finger at it. "Not fair, using my daughter as leverage."

"Um, Mary?" Delia cleared her throat. "The phone?"

Mary sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I got it – just close the door, all right?"

Delia nodded and backed out of the office, letting the door swing shut behind her as Mary picked up the phone, pushing the flashing button. "This is Mary Shannon."

There was a slight pause before Abigail responded. "Mary – I was expecting Marshall-"

"Yeah, well, he's not here. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I don't know. Do you know a Caleb Strong?"

Mary's eyes fluttered shut. "Yeah – why?"

"One of my men picked him up last night with a couple of buddies tagging a bank building downtown. This isn't young Caleb's first run in with us – but the officer was still just going to give him a ride home except for the fact that he was higher than a kite and in possession of a narcotic."

Mary moaned as she reached for her jacket. "Where is Cal now? Still in one of your holding cells?"

"Yup – he didn't want to call his parents last night but this morning he did demand to call a Marshall Mann so I thought-"

"- that you'd call for him," Mary finished as she shrugged into her jacket. "Well, Marshall's out of town."

"Oh, I see. Well then, I guess we'll have to call his parents after all-"

"No, Detective. I will do that on my way down there. I know Cal and he knows me. I can get through to him."

"Forgive me, Mary, but he's a troubled teen and isn't Marshall better equipped-"

"Abigail, I'm not going to get into this with you. Cal is one of ours and you did the right thing by calling. I'll handle it from here." Mary slammed down the phone, muttering the 'b' word under her breath. "Delia!"

"Yes?" The overly alert and perky woman stuck her head inside the office. "Trouble?"

"Cal Strong is down at APD – spent the night in lockup but they're ready to let him go. The boy needs an intervention, however. Do me a favor and call his parents, have them meet me down there?"

"Sure thing, Mary."

"And hold down the fort – I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Man, this place needs some serious lightening up – everyone is so serious in here."

Mary stared hard at Cal, until the teen broke her gaze and yawned. "Cal, this is serious. Do you want to end up in here one day?"

He snorted. "Of course not. This place would kill all my creativity – I need the open air to express my art."

"Is that what you were doing last night – expressing your art?"

Cal nodded eagerly. "I needed a bigger canvas – and my buddy Frank was like 'Hey, I know a place.'" He shrugged. "I've never done it on the outside of someone else's building before but it was pretty cool – until the cops showed up."

"And the coke – how long have you been using, Cal?"

He dropped his gaze to the top of his shoes. "A couple of months. At first I just needed it to unwind from the stress of exams and stuff, you know? But then I found that I could paint the most amazing stuff when I was high – you should see my stuff, Mary! It's amazing! Don't make me quit – I can't – I won't!" His eyes darted around the cell frantically.

"Cal, that stuff can stop your heart – it can kill you – is that what you want? To be the next Heath Ledger or Michael Jackson?"

Cal hung his head. "But I need to paint – it's the only time I feel free and forget what I saw. I forget that I'm the reason we're here and that my folks are mad at me for uprooting their lives-"

"Cal, that's not true. Your parents love you-"

"Mom doesn't – she hates the fact that she had to leave her family and friends and everything behind."

Mary was still formulating her response when the guard appeared and let Cal's parents into the cell. His dad rushed to enfold him in his arms while his mom held back, her arms crossed.

"What do you have to say for yourself, young man?" she demanded.

"Gladys, not now-" her husband pleaded. "Can't this wait until we get home?"

"Please don't fight," Cal pleaded. "I won't do it again."

"There, you see?" Cal's father smiled.

Mary stepped into the small family group. "I'm sure Marshall will be checking in with you once he's back in town. But until then, please know that you can call me if you need to. Also, here's a card for a drug treatment center-"

"That's not necessary-" Cal's father waved Mary's hand away.

"Mr. Strong," Mary interrupted. "Do you understand the fact that your son is a cocaine addict? That he feels guilty for bringing all of you into the program and from your wife's attitude, I can see why he feels as he does?"

"How dare you-"

She sighed. "Someone needs to say something. Your son needs drug treatment and from where I'm standing all of you need counseling. Please take the card – we'll be checking in to see that Cal is receiving some kind of treatment for his habit."

Mrs. Strong snatched the card from Mary's hand and stuffed it in her purse. "Let's go home."

When Mary exited the cell, she nearly ran straight into Abigail.

"Didn't your mother teach you it's not polite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?"

Abigail cocked her head to the side. "You know, I was just trying to figure out how Marshall survived all those years as your partner – you are severely lacking in people skills."

Mary gritted her teeth and continued to walk past the remainder of cells, holding her breath as she neared the drunk tank, which was overflowing from last night's pickups. She had to take a step back when Abigail stepped in front of her, halting her in her tracks.

"What? No witty, sarcastic Shannon comeback? Oh, I get it. Marshall asked you to be on your best behavior while he was gone, didn't he?"

Mary's eyes flashed in her tight face but she continued to bite her tongue and think of Norah.

"Well, this could be fun! I could say everything I've always wanted to say to you and you can't do anything!" Abigail laughed.

Mary's left hand clenched into a fist but still she didn't respond with words.

Abigail slowly circled her. "Do you know why Marshall left me?" She searched Mary's eyes for the answer. "No? I'll bet you think it was because of you – well, it wasn't."

The words hit Mary like a sledgehammer. Marshall had never told her what happened between him and Abigail a year ago. She had tried to get the information out of him, thinking that he would feel better if he would talk about it and she was dying of curiosity but no amount of persuasion worked. All he had said was Abigail had asked him to give up the one thing he couldn't and she had naturally assumed that was her. But what if it wasn't? What if it was something else?

"I'll bet you've been dying of curiosity this past year and I have half a mind not to tell you," Abigail shrugged.

Mary could hold her tongue no longer. "It doesn't matter what the reason was – he's no longer with you. He's been living with me and Norah for the past year – and he's happier with me than he ever was with you."

Anger flared in the brunette's eyes. "Really? So the rumors are true then? You do have roommates with benefits relationship?"

Mary's fist struck Abigail's jaw like a rattlesnake and the brunette went down amid cheers from the conscious drunks in the tank. "That just shows how little you ever knew him. Marshall would never-" Mary hissed. "Never mind. I'm not going to waste my breath explaining our relationship to you." She stepped over Abigail.

"He left because I was going to accept a job in Denver."

Abigail's words stopped her once again. Mary turned and stared down at the woman in disbelief. "You were asking him to give up his promotion for your career?"

The brunette was massaging her swelling jaw. "It was a great opportunity for me."

Mary shook her head. "What about Marshall? Did you even think about him?"

"He could still be a US Marshal-" Abigail protested.

Mary walked away, muttering "Bitch," under her breath, as she slammed out of the precinct and into the blinding Albuquerque sunlight.

Marshall rolled his shoulders as he punched in the code and waited for the green light to flash before opening the door and stepping into the quiet house.

Home. Finally.

It had been a long five days. He and Mary had talked and texted multiple times a day but it still hadn't felt like enough. He had laughed out loud when she had sent him a picture of the office with the caption 'still standing' when she had clocked out that evening. She had kept him updated on the situation with Cal and he had breathed a sigh of relief when the teen had voluntarily checked into rehab yesterday afternoon.

He knew she could do it – manage the witnesses and their bosses without him. It was Delia and the other people in the office she came into contact with that he worried about. She was still his exotic animal that was wounded and often bit in order to protect herself instead of just working with people. When he wasn't around to soothe her rough edges, talk her down, yeah, he still worried, just a little bit.

Marshall dropped his bag next to sofa and his stomach rumbled. It was late but he was hungry. Was it too much to hope that Mary had left something for him? He knew what day it was – and so did she. She had sent him a photo of a giant piece of pie with the caption 'wish you were here' this morning. He moved into the kitchen and snapped on the light, freezing in his tracks at what was sitting on the table.

There was the pie from his phone – along with a note and art from Norah. Marshall's heart squeezed in his chest as he reached for the note first.

"Welcome home, Doofus. Bug and I missed you. She made you a picture with Grandma Jinx's help (like I could do anything this creative with her!). I saved you a piece of pie – but I had to wrestle it away from Bug since it's her favorite. Stay out of the cherry one in the fridge – it's MINE! If you want more food, there's some of your beef stew in there. Sorry we couldn't wait up for you – Bug's working on a molar and she's finally crashed. But please wake me when you get in – Love, M."

Marshall swallowed the lump in his throat as he set the note down and picked up Norah's artwork. Jinx had helped her make wings with her hands and then had drawn a heart around it. He had saved all her art from her very first scribbles but now she was starting to make pictures! He sighed. His Love bug was growing up.

He heated some of the stew and ate it along with the pie, then cleaned up the kitchen, leaving it cleaner than when he found it. Tiptoeing down the hall to Norah's room, he pushed her door open only to find her crib empty. For a moment, he panicked and then realized that if she was having trouble sleeping because of her teeth, Mary probably had just taken her to bed with her. He didn't want to intrude on their slumber, so he went to his room and stripped, deciding to take a shower before bed. But he knew sleep wouldn't come until he checked on his girls.

Mary's door was closed but Marshall had perfected the art of opening it without a sound over the past year and he slipped inside. For several moments he just stood and stared at the two of them curled up on her bed, Norah's little hands were curled around Mary's fingers, and Mary had wrapped her baby girl in blanket Marshall's mother had made just for her. Mary stirred as she sensed his presence and turned her head.

"Marshall?" she whispered.

He moved to the side of the bed. "Hey, yeah, it's me."

She smiled at him sleepily. "Hi. When did you get home?"

"About an hour ago," he admitted softly, as he reached down and touched Norah's cheek with his finger. "Had some dinner, took a shower." He sighed. "She's so beautiful."

She snorted. "Yeah, now. Not when she's screaming bloody murder all day long."

He sat on the edge of the mattress. "Mer, she's teething. Can you imagine sharp, pointy objects poking and prodding and ripping out of your gums?"

"Ew, gross – sounds like a horror movie."

He smiled. "Well, I'm just trying to get you to think of it from her perspective."

She looked at him soberly. "I missed you."

His finger left Norah and traced the side of Mary's face. "I missed you too. You look tired."

She fought a yawn. "I am – you have mighty big shoes to fill."

He chuckled. "Does this mean I'll get more respect from now on?"

"Yeah, right."

"I'm sure you did fine."

She bit her lower lip. "I tried-"

He caught her hesitation and cupped her cheek. "Mary, what is it? Did something happen?"

"Nothing work related – just –" she yawned. "Can we talk about it tomorrow?"

"Mary-"

"I promise I'm not evading the question – I really will tell you. Just – right now, I need sleep."

He nodded as he stood up. "Of course."

She caught his hand. "Where are you going?"

He raised his eyebrow. "To bed – to sleep."

"Stay."

His breath left his lungs on an exhale. "Mary-" They didn't do this – not anymore. He and Mary hadn't shared a bed since before Abigail. Even after moving in, Marshall had been careful not to cross this line with her. He had heard the whispers around the office – about the boss sleeping with his inspector and he had been quick to squash them whenever they had been said in his hearing.

"Please."

His eyes fluttered shut as she tugged him back to sit on the bed. He knew nothing would happen with Norah in the bed but things had been finally gotten to a good place between them – did he really want to open this box up again?

"Marshall?"

At the sound of his name, his eyes opened to see her staring up at him, her green eyes wide and questioning. Without a word, he crawled under the covers and watched as she rolled away from him, so that Norah was now on the outside. She scooted back as he scooted forward and she giggled when his chest collided with her back. He lifted his right arm and wrapped it around both of them and Mary sighed as she felt his breath in her ear.

"Do you feel it?"

He lifted his head slightly to look down at her. "What?"

"We're like three stacked spoons in a drawer – we fit, Marshall."

"Mary-" he moaned her name softly.

She lifted a finger and placed it over his lips. "Not now – just go to sleep."

A/N: Don't worry - the payoff chapter is coming soon! I hope you enjoyed Mary & Abigail's scene - it just appeared on my screen - my Mary muse is still laughing in my head! Reviews are LOVE!